Frequently asked questions Russia and Belarus

The urgent request has been issued to freeze all institutional and formal collaborations. The same applies to establishing new formal and institutional collaborations with institutions in the Russian Federation and Belarus. This means that activities included in the collaborations will cease until further notice. This means, among other things, that no more financial transactions will be made and no more data and knowledge will be exchanged. It is ultimately up to the Dutch knowledge institution itself to decide on this.

In addition, there are European sanctions that prohibit, among other things, the transfer of dual-use technologies and of technology that can be used by the Russian defense and security sector, oil refining, aviation, and space industry. Providing technical assistance to Russia in these areas is also prohibited. Technical assistance may take the form of instructions, advice, training, transfer of practical knowledge or skills, or advisory services, and includes verbal assistance.

There has been an urgent request to freeze all institutional and formal collaborations until further notice. It is up to the institutions themselves to make choices regarding individual researchers. However, if the research area is part of one of the technologies of the European sanctions (dual-use, oil technology, aerospace and finance), it is legally prohibited for the transfer of knowledge to take place. Institutions are expected to comply with this legislation. Informal contacts with individual scientists, teachers and students from Russia and Belarus may continue.

The current sanctions against Russia cover the transfer of technology including technical assistance (knowledge transfer) in specific areas (dual-use, oil technology, aviation, and finance). Transfer of technology in those areas is prohibited. Please refer to the sanctions regarding dual-use technology. If you have determined that your partnership falls outside the scope of the sanctions, there is still the appeal to freeze all institutional or formal collaborations with Russian and Belarusian knowledge institutions, and not to enter into any new collaborations. It is up to the knowledge institutions to make their own judgments in this regard.

The sanctions apply only to Russian or Belarusian knowledge institutions. The sanctions, with exceptions, do not target individuals. Under the current sanctions, students and researchers can simply continue to receive education, participate in research, publish, graduate, and so on. With regard to publications to which Russian scientists have contributed a significant amount of data: as long as there is no substantive doubt about the origin and reproducibility of that data, there is no reason not to publish it under the current sanctions regime.

Russian and Belarusian students, lecturers and researchers who are currently in the Netherlands can stay here and will be supported as much as possible by the institutions where enrolled or working. As long as the sanctions do not prevent it, the objective is that the students, researchers and lecturers from Belarus and Russia continue their studies, research and/or work as much as possible. The Minister of Education, Culture and Science has given educational institutions urgent advice to accommodate Ukrainian as well as Russian and Belarusian students as much as possible and to support them (financially) where possible. 

For information about students and researchers with Erasmus or research grants, please contact the organisation with which you have arranged this. In principle, Russian and Belarusian students can receive grants, except when the students are involved in areas of knowledge subject to EU sanctions. The prohibition is not about funding (grants and scholarships), but about the access of these students to the knowledge to which the sanctions apply. This also applies to PhD and postdoc contracts where an individual is contracted by a Dutch institution on a subject that is not covered by EU sanctions.

Researchers working in Russia or Belarus are currently subject to sanctions to prevent knowledge transfer to Russia and Belarus. Russian and Belarusian researchers working outside of Russia and Belarus should not be barred from an application process based on their nationality.

For general information for knowledge institutions on the sanctions, please visit UNL. 
For the EU Regulation on sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus, please visit EUR-Lex.
Do you have questions about whether your collaboration falls within the scope of the sanctions? If so, please contact us for further information.

Update information

Last update: 22 March 2022, 14:37 - We will update this Q&A when more information becomes available.